Outside of the 90-odd minutes of a game I
always try to stay level-headed when it comes of all things Manchester City
Incredible attacking options
There are too many formations
and possibilities to go through; besides which, I’ve done them
in previous posts and I’m sure most of you have
done similar.
But nevertheless, we
now have SO many attacking options that I would have to be made of cold stone not
to get energized and ‘fired up’ for the coming season. With, hopefully, Lescott and Richards
signing new deals soon; I have to say that our back line looks (mostly) good enough
to both start and endure the season too.
In Pablo and Micah we have two right-back options.
Micah again being
able to perform in central defence along with Kompany,
Nastasic and Lescott; 4 should be enough...with
youth options (and Garcia & Rodwell) behind those.
In Clichy
Keep our defence as
tight as possible (with one of the best goalkeepers around behind them) and our
attacking potential is enough to frighten anyone in England
RIP Bert
I was very sad to
hear the news that Bert Trautmann had passed
away on 19th July. What a goalkeeper and a man who has had to endure
many-a-hardship and heartache. If you’ve not read his Biography by Alan Rowlands then I would say to all fans of
football, as well as those interested in recent history; to go and get it.
I was fortunate to
have met Bert at one of his book signings in Mary D’s
pub near The Etihad about 8 years ago. It was in the large, back room early-to-mid
one Saturday morning before it filled up with fans for a home game. I was kind
of nervous and it wasn’t helped by the fact that I got there early...and was the
only one there apart from the great man himself, his daughter and the author
Alan Rowlands.
As I approached him
I recall saying that I was very pleased to meet him. Then - and I sort of now-cringe
at my next, unplanned line - I said, “My dad was called Bert”. I only cringe now because I
don’t know whether he couldn’t understand my quivering voice…or just wasn’t
interested. Either way, he didn’t react at all beyond a little grunt as he
signed my book. I’ve never been able to shake the feeling that he was, in fact, a little
embarrassed and/or grumpy; that at the start of the 1-hour book-signing
session there was just one fan there…me.
Anyway, it was still
a huge honour to meet the great man; my dad wasn’t alive but he would have been
chuffed to bits for me; that I’d met the man that my dad often talked about
with great fondness. Before I left I spoke to Alan Rowlands briefly and left
him with a free copy of a fanzine that I used to help run and write for, ‘A
Million Miles Away’. I never did hear
from Alan with an offer to join the Author’s fraternity…
And in other news…
Them
Manyoo’s persistence in the pursuit of Cesc Fabregas is certainly an ambitious one; I can
certainly see why they’re going for him - he’s a very good player indeed and
they’re desperate for at least one decent midfielder. But it smacks of
desperation rather than ambition to me. There’s even a rumour that they will
double his wages in order to reel him in (oooo…careful
now; Rooney won’t like that!)
I believe Cesc when
he says he doesn’t want to leave Barcelona Spain
And…don’t Arsenal
have first refusal? Surely even the overly-prudent Wenger
would at least make a bid to bring him back to the Emirates…
And the Rooney
debacle rolls on. From a City point of view I hope he stays with the
ever-so-slowly, listing ship. Despite the fact that he’s still a fine player
and massive goal threat (I like him for his ability); an unhappy player who
clearly doesn’t get on with Golum and where
most of the fans dislike him to say the least will do JUST FINE for me…
Villa
Well it would appear that Benteke
and his agent have brilliantly manoeuvred themselves to get the big man a new,
extended contact to 2017 at Aston Villa. He
comes out of it with an extra £28,000 (now £56,000) per week too!
One minute the Belgian was being - most likely and if so understandably - berated by the Villa fans on
chat pages for showing a lack of respect after their Club and punted £7M on the
relatively untried and unknown player and then, what? One good season in a
struggling side and he apparently ‘wants away’ from the midlands club.
He was even, by all accounts, wanting a move to be secured before he had to face up to his colleagues for pre-season training. Then all of a sudden, new contract and a quote from Christian saying,
"I am very happy
to be back here in Birmingham
"This is a great
club and it has given me a lot. Now I have to give back to my team-mates and
the fans who have always been right behind me."
What? Watford
or Udinese?
I thought I was
hearing things the other day when I heard that Watford has signed 7 (SEVEN!) Udinese players. I was even more perplexed that
they’d done so following a club transfer embargo; preventing them from,
presumably…signing any players.
Not keeping up with
all things; Hornets the seemingly bizarre episode
form the Twilight Zone soon became a little clearer.
They are, apparently, owned by the same people – the Pozzo family – and so
Udinese & Watford are understandably operating as sister clubs. The
embargo, it turns out, is due to the previous owner’s misdemeanours and the
League 1 Club are allowed to sign players with the scrutiny and permission of
League officials.
Phew! I thought I was going a bit dippy there
for a moment…
Back to all things City
Two quick words on our pre-season tour of
South Africa:
Fitness (&)
publicity.
Four words on Maicon:
Goodbye and good luck.
Considerably more words about our trips to China
Key players back;
looking forward to seeing the shape of our side develop.
A few more words for the boss:
Hope your mum gets
well soon. (Update: Since this post, news that Manuel Pellegrini's mother passed away last weekend came though. I would like to join others in passing on my sincere condolences).
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